Microsoft s.azure Registry Domain Name Registration Policy

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1 Microsoft s.azure Registry Domain Name Registration Policy Contents General/Definitions... 2 Rules of Eligibility... 3 Eligibility Reconsideration... 3 Domain Name Registration Rules... 3 (1) Eligibility Confirmation... 3 (2) Naming Convention Check... 4 (3) Acceptable Use Review... 4 (4) Registration... 4 Reserved Names

2 .Azure Registry Domain Name Registration Policy This.Azure Registry Domain Name Registration Policy (.Azure Registration Policy) sets out the eligibility criteria for.azure domain names in Microsoft s.azure registry. This.Azure Registration Policy may be updated periodically. The current version can be found at nic.azure, and Registrant s continued registration of a.azure domain name after any such update shall constitute Registrant s acceptance of any such update. The terms set out in this.azure Registration Policy constitute the full agreement concerning eligibility criteria for registration of a.azure domain name. It is to be read in conjunction with the.azure Registry T&Cs. No other agreements or representations supplement or alter the terms of this.azure Registration Policy except as expressly incorporated herein. Any undefined capitalized term in the.azure Registration Policy shall have the meaning set out in the ICANN Registry Agreement applicable to the.azure registry, available at All communications and information under this.azure Registration Policy shall be in English. General/Definitions Authorized Employee means an employee of Microsoft or a Microsoft Affiliate who is authorized to seek registration of a.azure domain name in the name of Microsoft or a Microsoft Affiliate..Azure Registry T&Cs means the.azure Registry Domain Name Terms and Conditions, which set out the terms and conditions governing the registration and use of domain names in the.azure Registry. Microsoft means Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft), a company organized under the laws of the State of Washington, U.S.A. and located at One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA Microsoft Affiliate means any person or entity that, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries or in combination with one or more other persons or entities, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with Microsoft, and Microsoft s Trademark Licensees, as defined in the ICANN Registry Agreement applicable to the TLD. Registrant means Microsoft or a Microsoft Affiliate seeking, through an Authorized Employee, to initiate registration of a.azure domain name (which, if allowed, means that Registrant is then a.azure domain name registrant). Registrar means an ICANN-accredited registrar. Registry means Microsoft as a provider of TLD registry services for the.azure Top Level Domain registry. Registry Services Provider means the entity providing back-end technical and operational services for the day-to-day functioning of the.azure registry. Terms used in the singular or plural are merely for convenience, and shall apply mutatis mutandis, as the context may require. 2

3 Rules of Eligibility Domain names are only available for registration to and maintenance by Microsoft and, in Microsoft s sole discretion, Microsoft Affiliates. Microsoft reserves the right to periodically verify Registrant s eligibility to maintain a.azure domain name registration, and at any time to initiate an Eligibility Reconsideration process. The only manner by which Registrant may challenge Registrant s (non-)eligibility to register a.azure domain name is through Microsoft s.azure Eligibility Reconsideration process described below; any determination on Registrant s (non-)eligibility to register a.azure domain name shall be made in Microsoft s sole discretion, and is not subject to any further appeal mechanism or reconsideration process. Eligibility Reconsideration At any time during the registration of a.azure domain name, Microsoft or Microsoft s domain management team may (whether of its own volition, or at the suggestion of a third party whose identity may remain confidential) instigate an Eligibility Reconsideration process to verify your compliance with the.azure Registration Policy, in particular as to the.azure rules of eligibility set out above. A determination by Microsoft under the.azure Eligibility Reconsideration process may result in the cancellation or revocation of the.azure domain name registration and any such determination shall be made in Microsoft s sole discretion, and is not subject to any further appeal mechanism or reconsideration process. Domain Name Registration Rules Domain name registration in the.azure will occur pursuant to a four-step process: (1) Eligibility Confirmation; (2) Naming Convention Check; (3) Acceptable Use Review; and, (4) Registration (.Azure domain name registrations shall be for one year). Only if an attempted domain name registration is verified as meeting the.azure Registration Policy, including the domain name being available for registration (i.e., not already registered), and only where Registrant meets the.azure Rules of Eligibility, can a.azure domain name proceed to registration/allocation..azure domain name registrations shall at all times be bound to all applicable.azure rules and regulations including inter alia the.azure Registration Policy and the.azure Registry T&Cs. (1) Eligibility Confirmation Only Authorized Employees may seek to register (including any renewals).azure domain names;.azure domain names may not under any circumstances be registered or used by parties other than Microsoft and Microsoft Affiliates and may not subsequently be sold, distributed or transferred to any other party without Microsoft s consent. 3

4 Only Microsoft and Microsoft Affiliates may use.azure domain names. Prior to approval/registration/renewal, all prospective domain name registrations will be verified by the Registrar and Microsoft s.azure domain name management team for compliance with the.azure Rules of Eligibility. (2) Naming Convention Check A second-level.azure domain name must meet all of the following criteria: (a) Must be at least 1 character and no more than 63 characters long. (b) Must not contain a hyphen at the 3rd and 4th positions (tagged domains), unless corresponding to a valid Internationalized Domain Name in ASCII encoding (for example xn--ndk061n ). (c) Must contain only letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and hyphens, or a combination of these. (d) Must start and end with an alphanumeric character, not a hyphen. (e) Must not be a Reserved Name (see below). (3) Acceptable Use Review Upon submission of a request to register a.azure domain name, or by asking Microsoft to renew a.azure domain name registration, Registrant represents and warrants that Registrant s.azure domain name registration does and will at all times comply with the.azure Registration Policy and the.azure Registry T&Cs. Prior to approval/registration/renewal, Registrant s domain name registration will be verified by Microsoft s.azure domain name management team for compliance as to.azure Registry T&Cs. Domain name registrations/renewals will only be permitted in the.azure registry where Authorized Employee has obtained a.azure registration code from Microsoft s.azure domain name management team in advance of registration;.azure registration codes are granted subject to Microsoft s satisfaction that Registrant s registration and use of a.azure domain name will conform with the.azure Registry T&Cs. Microsoft may periodically review a Registrant s compliance with the.azure Registry T&Cs. Any determination by Microsoft s domain name management team as to Registrant s (non-)compliance with the.azure Registration Policy and/or.azure Registry T&Cs may result in the cancellation or revocation of Registrant s.azure domain name registration or the withdrawal of permission to use it, as applicable and in Microsoft s sole discretion. (4) Registration Unless otherwise agreed in writing in advance with the Microsoft.Azure Registry and confirmed by the Registrar,.Azure domain name registrations, and renewals, are for a period of one year. 4

5 Provided that the.azure Eligibility Confirmation, Naming Convention Check, and Acceptable Use Review criteria are all satisfied, Microsoft s.azure domain name management team will instruct the Registrar to proceed with the registration or renewal of Registrant s.azure domain name. If at any point prior to the registration expiration date Registrant no longer wishes to maintain Registrant s.azure domain name registration, Authorized Employee may submit a written (which shall include ) request to [email protected] for Microsoft s.azure domain name management team to cancel Registrant s.azure domain name registration; in such event, Microsoft s.azure domain name management team is under no obligation to make such domain name available for future registration. At the conclusion of the registration period for Registrant s.azure domain name, unless Registrant has instructed Microsoft otherwise at least 30 calendar days prior to the expiration of Registrant s.azure domain name registration, we will automatically renew Registrant s.azure domain name registration. Reserved Names The following terms are reserved from registration: a. terms prohibited by ICANN from availability for registration including as required by the ICANN Registry Agreement applicable to the.azure Top Level Domain, and in particular 1. the terms example, www, rdds, and whois at all levels, which at Microsoft s discretion shall be withheld from registration or allocated to Microsoft 2. the term nic, at all levels, as this term shall be allocated to Microsoft for use in connection with the operation of the.azure Top Level Domain b. any term reserved by Microsoft in its sole discretion. 5